The first day I began my FMP, I started to fill in my proposal, the first section is where I review the skills I have obtained since I first started this course to approximately 100 words, so I had to keep it brief. The second section of the proposal needed to be completed in 200 words, in this box I stated my aims for the project, my pathway, what format my final edited piece will be in, how will I going about my research, whether I will need to learn more editing skills in premiere pro or confidently know how to use all buttons on a camera. The third section is the evaluation, in which needed to be completed in only 50 words. Then there is a section where you can copy and paste web and YouTube links into the box as part of your research. The last part is a project action plan and timetable.
21/03/17
I went to town yesterday and I happened to get stopped by woman, who was part of this campaign in which she was raising awareness for, unfortunately I was too young for her to give me a leaflet about it. It was the way she approached me that was interesting, she first introduced herself, asked for my name, shook my hand and thanked me for stopping to talk to her. Her saying thank you seemed very genuine and made me think about my project as I wanted to talk to the public and I was very aware that not many people would stop to talk to me, especially as i needed to record them as part of my documentary. I got to discussing my project with a friend online, and she suggested that I asked my friends online if they would like to be involved. I straight away felt like that was a good idea as I'm sure that they would love to be involved in a discussion about feminism. As I would need to have evidence of them getting involved and have a video of some form for my documentary.
22/03/17 - 23/03/17
Over the past couple days I have been continuing to add more to my pitch in which I am going to present to the class in a week. I have finished the slide where I discuss my project idea, what the format is, who is going to be involved, where I am going to film, who I'm going to ask to participate, and who my audience is. I have also done a survey monkey and asked my peers to complete it, it's part of my primary research and I put screenshots of my results onto my pitch.
28/03/17 - 29/03/17
I have worked out my budget for the documentary and I've found that I will not be spending any money on the project as i will be hiring equipment from college and using premiere pro which is already installed on the macs and I do not require any props either. I have assigned the job roles, cast and crew; I will be the interviewer, Rachel will be the camera operator and the cast is anyone who will be interviewed. I will only ask for the first name of the person I will thank them in the credits once I edit. The questions I have come up with so far are:
- Do you think men can be feminists too?
- What is your definition of the word 'Feminism'?
- Why do you think the word 'feminism' is associated with 'man haters'?
Research
"Women are always wearing men's clothes, but nobody says anything about that, No one is going to call me a lesbian because I'm in head-to-toe mens[wear]. It goes both ways, it should just be acceptable. Whether it's labeled as men's clothing or women's clothing, if you find it cool you're going to wear it." - http://uk.complex.com/style/2015/10/men-in-womenswear-is-a-thing-and-thats-cool
30/03/17
- Research women's rights
- History of successful women
- Women and sexism in politics
On this day, I presented my pitch in front of the class. Beforehand I created a list of questions for the class to answer and these are the results:
01/04/17
Today I began researching the history of feminism, where it came from, certain people who took major parts in feminism and women's rights. I then researched the different waves of feminism.
(http://feminism.eserver.org/) -2005
From my research I found that the first first women's conference held in Seneca Falls, America, 1848. The women's movement evolved out of social reform groups, for example, abolition of slavery, social purity and temperance movements. Women campaigned on a number of different things.
From the research I carried out on the three waves of feminism, I created a table to clearly show each waves focuses.
03/04/17
Here, I have decided on the questions I am going to ask my participants.
"Feminism isn't about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It's about changing the way the world perceives that strength" -G.D. Anderson
Sexism in Politics
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/03/28/europe/daily-mail-brexit-sturgeon-may/index.html
https://thetab.com/uk/2016/12/16/literally-just-list-sexist-headlines-2016-28368
htps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-sexist-quotes-comments-tweets-grab-them-by-the-pussy-when-star-you-can-do-anything-a7353006.html
I started to jot down in my book about what type of things that I could put onto different mood boards such as:
06/04/17
I also thought I could create mind maps on historic inspirational women and different ways I could approach the public.
https://matadornetwork.com/notebook/how-to-approach-strangers-for-photos-video-or-an-interview/
19/04/17
I was talking to my tutor, Oli, he asked what i was up with my FMP, he viewed my progress and what I have completed thus far. From our brief discussion we were talking about the equality of people, the way clothes are tailored to men and women and why his girlfriend prefers to wear mens' shirts because they fit better and they're more comfortable. We then got onto talking about why women's clothes are specifically tailored to flaunt their figure and sexualise women. I also told him about when I asked my sister if she liked what I was wearing, she said "yes", smiled and gave me a hug. I then asked her if she thought my clothes were for men or women, she said "they're for anyone". She's 7 years old with a ton of sense, bless her.
From the topic of the fashion industry, fashion websites and clothes in general, he showed me a website that "doesn't sexualise women like other fashion websites do", and he also described it as "raw" and "underground" and that website is "i-D". And not only does it discuss fashion, it talks about music, culture, other news, videos, "the fifth sense" and "think pieces".
Doing a search onto the American Apparel website i straight away from that the models wear simply wearing the clothes, that's all. I then search for ASOS, New Look and H&M to compared them to American Apparel. ASOS and New Look were in a way sexualising the clothes and the women who were wearing them. H&M has a mixture, some of the models have a hand of there hip or are cocking their leg slightly, and some models were stood straight.
Oli showed em a youtube channel called "Vice", she searched for Feminism on their channel and it came up with a bunch of videos discussing different topics surrounding feminism. He showed me another youtube channel that shows to men asking different groups that are fans of a certain person questions. Oli felt this could show me certain interviewing techniques that I could use when I interview people myself.
20/04/17
Here, I have decided on the questions I am going to ask my participants.
- Do you believe in schools' dress code?
- Do you think men can be feminists too?
- Why do you think feminism is associated with 'man haters'?
- What is your definition feminism?
- To what extent should everyone have the right to their own opinion?
- Describe feminism in 3 words.
- What does it mean to act 'lady like'?
- What does it mean to 'man-up'?
- How do you feel about the cost of feminine hygiene products?
- Do you think 'boys will be boys' encourages bad behaviour?
- What do you call a woman who has a lot of sex?
- What do you call a man who has a lot of sex?
04/04/17
Codes and Conventions of a Documentary
In order to create a documentary, I knew I needed to research the codes and conventions of a documentary so I am aware what I need to include.
- voiceover
- 'real' footage of events
- technicality of realism
- archive footage/stills
- interviews with 'experts'
- use of text/titles
- sounds
- set-ups
- visual coding
Watch "Super Size Me" to research a documentary and what they entail.
"Project"board on Pinerest
05/04/17
"Super Size Me" - 2004 (1hr, 40mins)
Director: Morgan Spurlock
Writer: Morgan Spurlock
"Stop thinking that what people so loathingly refer to as the 'friendzone' is some sort of purgatory women put 'nice guys' into. My friendship is not a crappy consolidation prize that you're left with if I deny you a sexual relationship and my body is not your reward for good behaviour." -Taylor Callobre, the "good guy" myth
Sexism in Politics
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/03/28/europe/daily-mail-brexit-sturgeon-may/index.html
https://thetab.com/uk/2016/12/16/literally-just-list-sexist-headlines-2016-28368
htps://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-sexist-quotes-comments-tweets-grab-them-by-the-pussy-when-star-you-can-do-anything-a7353006.html
I started to jot down in my book about what type of things that I could put onto different mood boards such as:
- Celebrity feminists and speeches (historical and modern)
- Men wearing "women's clothes"
- Women Wearing "men's clothes"
- Images from 'project' Pinterest board
06/04/17
I also thought I could create mind maps on historic inspirational women and different ways I could approach the public.
https://matadornetwork.com/notebook/how-to-approach-strangers-for-photos-video-or-an-interview/
19/04/17
I was talking to my tutor, Oli, he asked what i was up with my FMP, he viewed my progress and what I have completed thus far. From our brief discussion we were talking about the equality of people, the way clothes are tailored to men and women and why his girlfriend prefers to wear mens' shirts because they fit better and they're more comfortable. We then got onto talking about why women's clothes are specifically tailored to flaunt their figure and sexualise women. I also told him about when I asked my sister if she liked what I was wearing, she said "yes", smiled and gave me a hug. I then asked her if she thought my clothes were for men or women, she said "they're for anyone". She's 7 years old with a ton of sense, bless her.
From the topic of the fashion industry, fashion websites and clothes in general, he showed me a website that "doesn't sexualise women like other fashion websites do", and he also described it as "raw" and "underground" and that website is "i-D". And not only does it discuss fashion, it talks about music, culture, other news, videos, "the fifth sense" and "think pieces".
Some would argue that this image of models on the American Apparel website is sexualising women, but I feel like the models are simply stood, showing the product on a model. 
Now when I compare the first image to the second image from ASOS, it is clear to see that these women are being sexualised by standing in sultry and sexual poses. As I said to Oli, if a woman is stood in a sultry position, this does not change my decision about buying the product, therefore it would make so much more sense of the models were to stand normally and show a realistic image of how the product will look on anyone who was to buy it.
The top image is taken from American Apparel and the second from H&M, they're slightly different but they are showing my point compared to the image below were the models are again posing in a sultry manner. The images above is what I would like all fashion websites to post instead of the ones in the bottom image as women do not need to be sexualised in so way what so ever.
Oli showed em a youtube channel called "Vice", she searched for Feminism on their channel and it came up with a bunch of videos discussing different topics surrounding feminism. He showed me another youtube channel that shows to men asking different groups that are fans of a certain person questions. Oli felt this could show me certain interviewing techniques that I could use when I interview people myself.
- 'Cat call video goes viral'
- 'Do you do this to the guys? - sexism in the media'
- 'Ariana Grande shuts down sexist comments in a radio interview'
- 'What stands in the way of women being equal to men? BBC news'
- 'Always #likeagirl'
- 'Feminism survey: Men on the street'
When I edit these videos and take the parts that I want from them, I will ensure that they are in the credits, along with any other music, sound effects or visual effects I use. I have found a number of songs that I feel could work well alongside my footage:
I came to a point in a research where I didn't know where to go or how I was going to include everything I've researched into a 15-20 minute documentary. Though if it was on a bigger scale, I would be able to do a documentary which is an hour and a half like most documentaries are in modern TV. So after a discussion with my peer, we thought it would be best if I focused on just one part of feminism in a certain industry, and as I have already researched into the fashion industry and how women are treated within this industry, I can go in this direction and focus my documentary on this certain issue. From this point, I am going to research further into fashion websites, Instagram, music videos on YouTube and on news programs and outlets.
22/04/17
After listening to the songs I want to include in my documentary, I began inspired by them and had some sort of vision as to what I wanted my final piece to look like. I imagined it to have drone shots and establishing shots of my town. I have a friend that lives in Scotland that I asked if she would like to take part in my documentary by answering my questions and filming herself, as this way I can simply insert the clips along with my footage when in post-production. Another friend of mine who lives in a different town to me answered the questions, and then sent them me on messenger. So for this. I'll need to film myself reading out her answers. I have started jotting down my ideas I got from listening to the music I am planning to use, and inspiration I have taken from other mini documentaries. It's on a storyboard template and in my folder.
Early feminism
22/04/17
After listening to the songs I want to include in my documentary, I began inspired by them and had some sort of vision as to what I wanted my final piece to look like. I imagined it to have drone shots and establishing shots of my town. I have a friend that lives in Scotland that I asked if she would like to take part in my documentary by answering my questions and filming herself, as this way I can simply insert the clips along with my footage when in post-production. Another friend of mine who lives in a different town to me answered the questions, and then sent them me on messenger. So for this. I'll need to film myself reading out her answers. I have started jotting down my ideas I got from listening to the music I am planning to use, and inspiration I have taken from other mini documentaries. It's on a storyboard template and in my folder.
Early feminism
- http://study.com/academy/lesson/womens-suffrage-early-feminism-movement-19th-amendment-leaders.html
- http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/22/living/the-seventies-feminism-womens-lib/
- http://www.biography.com/people/gloria-steinem-9493491
- http://www.biography.com/people/alice-walker-9521939
Sexism in the Fashion Industry
- http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/08/yes-the-fashion-industry-can-be-sexist-too.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nomi4oKv5X0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcHFPF6NMqc
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1NyMjf_Gc
24/04/17
Today I researched into the fashion industry and gathered up the research I have already found so far, e.g. screenshots from my pitch about men and women wearing the opposite gender's clothes and then use the feedback I got from the class about this topic.
When thinking about the way certain people think about me wearing men's clothes; I am called gay or my sexuality is questioned when I wear men's clothes or if i don't conform to the feminine norms of society. I am aware that people think certain garments are for a specific gender, but when I see a garment that I like and want to wear, I don't see gender. I wear clothes that I feel empowered and comfortable in, and that is what I want anyone to feel when they wear clothes.
Trousers and Suits
The fashion industry is changing and it's been changing ever since Coco Chanel started designing trousers and suits for women in 1930. It was during WW1 that women began to take over the manual jobs and wore trousers when in the workplace and Chanel loved wearing trousers and designed trousers for women to wear for an everyday lifestyle or for everyday activities. It was at this time that trousers became a fashion trend rather than just them being a functional garment.
Jersey
Chanel opened her first shop in Paris and the majority of her garments were made from Jersey, in which was used for men's underwear and this caused an outrage amongst the fashion industry. However Chanel saw potential in the fabric because it wasn't expensive and it draped well and suited her active lifestyle.
"I make fashion women can live in, breathe in, feel comfortable in and look younger in"
-Coco Chanel
26/04/17
I have selected a number of clips that I want to use in my final edit, and I have already put a few into a premiere pro project to see how I want my project to look.
27/04/17
I have filmed a number of the media students today answering the questions that I have, and the plan is to film almost all of the media students as that way I will have a variety of answers and I can chose from the best, as I have found from when I started editing the videos I have so far, that I don't need to include every single person's answers from the media course as this would take up fifteen minutes of the documentary. I will also be taking home a camera and a boom mic to film the public interviews tomorrow.
29/04/17
Today was the day I filmed in public. I didn't have high hopes for this part of my documentary as I knew that I wouldn't be able to get many people to participate, hence the reason I decided to ask college students and family to take part. In the end I only got two people to answer some questions. I took a college camera with me to use but after standing in town with my camera woman, we decided it would be best to use our phones as this way people would feel a little less intimidated. We used both phones at the same time in case one happened to cut out. However we ran into a slight issue with memory on our phones, so when we recorded the first person, we sent the video to each other on our messenger chat on Facebook and deleted the videos from our phone to free some memory space. Though, I had troubles with my videos as when I tried to send them to the chat, it didn't send and by this time it was too late as I had already deleted the videos from my phone. Though we have a few questions answered between the two people who participated. I have filmed a number of the media students today answering the questions that I have, and the plan is to film almost all of the media students as that way I will have a variety of answers and I can chose from the best, as I have found from when I started editing the videos I have so far, that I don't need to include every single person's answers from the media course as this would take up fifteen minutes of the documentary. I will also be taking home a camera and a boom mic to film the public interviews tomorrow.
29/04/17
Between me and my peer, we decided to ask more teachers from college so we still has a change of getting a variety of answers from a variety of people. As well as that, I have asked a couple friends to film themselves answering the questions as I won't be able to meet with them due to our busy schedules. I have asked my little sister and my parents if they would be able to answer the questions tomorrow. My friend and her brother said they'll film either today to tomorrow. I will film some more students either on Wednesday or on Thursday. I have already began editing and I know how I want my final piece to look and sound.
02/05/17
I visited Rotherham and I had a discussion with the teacher, Stephen, about my project and he gave me some people to talk about as part of my research. He told me about Patrick Stewart, Grayson Perry and Hannah Witton. He asked me if I had any sort of structure to my documentary and if I was being completely honest, I had an idea, but I am not one hundred percent sure. But at the end of the chat he told me from what I had told him about my project that I could conclude my documentary, so from what I have so far and what Stephen has recommended, I have this:
- Intro- shocking news report then the title (done)
- Women's march collage (done)
- People being sexist (done)
- First half of the interviews (almost done)
- Some more shocking news reports and videos
- Second half of interviews
- Inspirational women and feminists
- Sexism in fashion/clothes websites/politics
- People claiming to be "Feminists"
- What feminism actually is (conclusion)
- The Suffragettes
- Michelle Obama
- Barack Obama
- Malala Yousafzai
- Ashton Kutcher
- Alice Walker
- Emma Watson
03/05/17-04/05/17
06/05/17
I have researched the inspirational people that I will include in my documentary. I have made a word doc with lots of links to articles and YouTube video about the different people, I will create a script surrounding these people and then I will go into the radio studio at college and record the script I have created. I will also create a script for the fashion industry part of my documentary and record that. I have already written a brief introduction for my documentary in which I'll record at the same time as my other parts that I need to do. I'll ensure that my scripts are complete and to the standard I want them to be, so when I get to recording them in the radio studio, it will take less than an hour to record them.
09/05/17
I research Michelle and Barack Obama and gathered some information about the both of them and began editing their parts as well as other peoples parts in the documentary.
10/05/17
Liz went through through all of the work within my folder that I have done so far and she also had a look at my blog to ensure that I was updating what I am doing after each day. Whilst Liz was checking my progress, Oli, my progress tutor came in to talk to me about my documentary. I showed him what I have done so far and asked him if he felt like I could adapt anything to make it better. He asked me if there was anything in particular that I needed help on and I said that I was struggling to make each section flow and look a little less choppy. His advice was to use the overlay from my introduction, move it to the space I want it to be, duplicate it and then speed the copy up and put it over the original one. Once I've done that, he said that all it needs is some sort of text to show the audience what is going to appear in the next section. With his advice, I had created a small bridge which I could adapt to fit between the sections I need. As I created a bridge to use throughout my documentary, it ensured my project stayed consistent and had a certain aesthetic that the audience could recognise.
Rather than using a fade on this part of the screen, I used a slide transition that runs across the screen, left to right, first on the top two questions and then left to right on the bottom two questions.
I then used the overlay and a box with text in the centre to transition into the first half of the interviews.
From this feedback I have created call sheets and risk assessments for each time I filmed, a word document where I discuss budget, information about my cast and crew with images, cast and crew consent forms, and equipment tests with images.
The final point Liz made was to print off this blog post once I have finished updating it.
15/05/17
I have made the changed that Liz asked me to change, printed off any sheets I needed to and corrected the spelling and grammar in my work. I have completed the "people that inspire others" section of my documentary.
16/05/17
I have finished editing the second half of my interviews and I have began creating my credits. I have continued to edit my documentary by completing the second half of the interviews. By the end of the day, I started to edit the credits, though I was unsure about how to credit the videos I've used as part of my documentary so I asked my teacher and she said they would be classed as archive footage. Therefore, in the credits I have a section where I name all the videos I have taken from YouTube and name them archive footage. When researching, I looked at Vice YouTube videos and I liked how they laid out their credits, though when I came to creating the credits I thought it would be best to have them roll on screen. I believed this looked much more professional, as I have seen many films and documentaries use this method of displaying the credits.
After thinking about what else I could name my project, I decided on "What side of feminism are you on?". I have heard this many times whenever I happen to be discussing my college project with friends or family. My documentary is full of questions and I think it would be a good idea to end the project 'answering' this question.
17/05/17
I began by copying my voice over script from a google docs to a word document at college. I have previously learnt how to create a script for a short film, though as a voice over is different, I decided to research ways I could make it look professional. I learnt from a particular website that it is important to show in the script how you will say certain words. So with this information, I highlighted certain words and put them either in bold or italics so I know which words I want to emphasise. And bottom of the script I have a paragraph I wrote yesterday about how I would edit my documentary to fit around my voice over, and to ensure it all blends and portrays it's message effectively.
18/05/17 (thursday)
I have decided against recording a voiceover for my project. As I have already edited almost all of my project, I think adding in a voice over now would mean I'll have to alter my documentary to fit in a voiceover. I am happy with the way my documentary looks, and how I use text to anchor images and text. I used bold lettering instead of a voiceover as I believe this way, it captures the audiences attention more than what a voiceover would do. I am aware that I could've gone into depth with a voiceover, but I thought short and snappy titles were much more effective. I ask my teacher and peers to assess my documentary and to give me constructive criticism and after they watched my project they have a few points they felt I could alter. Before they looked at it, I told them that the last part of the outro needed completing and a few more things needed adding to the credits and that's all. They said that they liked the use of lettering on the titles and that it looked very professional. However they felt that the "people that have inspired others" section needed to give the audience more reading time and they were struggling to read the information on the bottom third of the screen before it went and more information appeared. With my feedback, I allowed more reading time of the text boxes and completed my outro.
Comparing my outro to my storyboard, I can see that I have the same idea, but I have changed the wording of it as I didn't quite answer the question at the beginning of the piece. So answered the question, explained it briefly and then let the credits run to complete the piece.
22/05/17
At the end of today, I created a small 'to-do-list' to put into perspective what I have left to do. I stated that I needed to take screenshots of my premiere pro project and put them on blogger, complete the powerpoint presentation that I'll show the class at the end of the week, complete the credits and export my final piece.
24/05/17
Looking back at what I have created, I would like to explain the things I have done, why I have edited it in the way I have etc.
I used the same text throughout my piece to ensure it says consistent and professional.
This part of my documentary was included to inform my audience of other people views, and to ensure they remain interested.
The top two images of the left are playlists I found on YouTube that have the same sort of songs throughout and I thought it would be a good idea to have this style of music, again, to remain consistent .
The third image on the left is a song I found on YouTube, and when I listened to it and felt it would work well in my documentary.I used a fade between each time I used a song as it sounds very professional. I also used fades between each part.
I came across an issue with the audio when reviewing the footage, some audio was coming out just the left side and vise versa. I was going to leave it until I started playing around with the audio effects on premiere pro until I found two effects that can make the audio go into the centre. If I didn't find this effect, I wouldn't have been as leased with my end product. I can see that issue making my documentary look very unprofessional.
01/06/17
I came into college to present my final project to my teacher. I am confident with how I went and nothing went wrong. I then printed off my powerpoint and put it into my folder.
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